Day: March 15, 2018

‘Professionals who worked with a 16-year-old Bristol girl killed in a sexually motivated attack by her stepbrother and his partner treated her as problematic rather than as a vulnerable adolescent with a difficult past, a serious case review has found. Seventeen experts from eight service providers saw Becky Watts in the three-and-a-half years before she was killed by her step-brother, Nathan Matthews, and his partner, Shauna Hoare, but she received a fragmented service and there was a lack of communication.’

‘The High Court has said that BHS cannot challenge the terms of its own company voluntary arrangement (CVA) as unenforceable contractual penalties. The case provides guidance as to how CVAs operate post termination and the payment of rent as an expense of a company’s administration in priority to other debts.’

‘Two recent cases, one in the Court of Appeal, the other in the Supreme Court, have created significant uncertainty around the acceptability of email service. It seems that there may now be a disparity between the CPR and the Party Wall Act 1996, despite the similarities in the wording of the relevant provisions for the two regimes.’

‘Some judgments seem destined to be blogged about (at least by me) and Baldwin v J Pickstock Ltd is one such judgment. It’s all about the adjudicator’s decision (or lack of), whether there was an extension of time for reaching that decision and whether the adjudicator had properly resigned and should be paid for the work he did (even though he did not reach a decision). It’s not quite Cubitt Building & Interiors v Fleetglade, but it does demonstrate how adjudicators need to be alive to banana skin tactics, even those coming from the referring party!’

‘Civil justice is readily available to the international super-rich but out of reach of most British citizens, according to a top City watchdog. But John Griffith-Jones, chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority, believes it is the job of parliament to boost consumer redress by changing the law, rather than simply tinkering with the regulator’s rulebook.’

‘Victims of the black cab rapist John Worboys face a wait to see if their challenge to the Parole Board’s decision to release him from jail has been successful. After two days of legal argument, three leading judges at the High Court reserved their ruling to a date to be fixed, saying they wanted time to give the case “anxious scrutiny”.’

‘Secrecy in family courts could be allowing judges to get away with mistakes, the most senior family judge in England and Wales has said. Speaking at an event on Tuesday evening, Sir James Munby, president of the high court’s family division, said that judges were “grotesquely overworked” and “tired” and so more likely to make errors.’